Nanette Gartrell, M.D.

Photo by Randal Dieringer

Nanette Gartrell, M.D., is a Williams Institute Visiting Distinguished Scholar, UCLA School of Law, and she has a guest appointment at the University of Amsterdam. She was previously on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Francisco.

She is a clinician and researcher whose ground-breaking investigations have been published in professional journals and cited in the media. Dr. Gartrell has appeared on network television (including PBS, Good Morning America, CNN, NBC, CBS, and Fox News), and on public, talk, and Sirius satellite radio.

She is the author of the bestselling MY ANSWER IS NO—if that's okay with you: How women can say NO with confidence. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, the Ladies Home Journal, and the Christian Science Monitor.

Dr. Gartrell has a private psychiatry practice, and for 13 years volunteered her psychiatric services to chronically mentally ill homeless people. Her spouse of 40 years is Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Dee Mosbacher, M.D., Ph.D.

Awards

In 2017, Dr. Gartrell was one of 24 LGBT people chosen to appear on curriculum posters for schools in the United Kingdom. Others include Alan Turing, Simone de Beauvoir, Anne Lister, and Pedro Almodovar. View all of the posters.

Books by Dr. Nanette Gartrell

MY ANSWER IS NO… if That's Okay with You: How women can say NO with confidence.

NO is a very simple word—two letters, one syllable. Yet many women have a hard time saying it without feeling anxious or guilty. In My Answer Is NO...If That's Okay with You, Dr. Gartrell takes a fresh look at why even the most powerful, accomplished, and successful women find it difficult to say NO. The book provides tips from such accomplished women as Danielle Steel, Barbara Bush, Sandra Day O'Connor, Faye Wattleton, Mary Fisher, and Peggy Noonan. My Answer Is NO... offers a revolutionary approach to setting limits without jeopardizing important relationships.

In Everyday Mutinies: Funding Lesbian Activism, prominent lesbians—including well-known activists such as Martina Navratilova, Alison Bechdel, Dee Mosbacher, and Jewelle Gomez—tell the stories of their activism with an emphasis on how they support themselves and fund their political activities. Everyday Mutinies includes the inspirational stories behind Naiad Press, The Ladder, the Academy Award-nominated film “Straight from the Heart”, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Articles by Dr. Nanette Gartrell

Tips for Advocates in the Hospital
published in the San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, April 13, 2008Read article [on SFGate.com]

How To Say No At Work ... And Still Get Ahead
published in The Christian Science Monitor - March 3, 2008Read article [on CSMonitor.com]

Does Your Doctor Hear You?
published in the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine - December 16, 2007Read article [on SFGate.com]

A Tenderloin Tail
published in the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine - April 30, 2006Read article [on SFGate.com]

A San Francisco Outing
published in the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine - July 17, 2005Read article [on SFGate.com]

"Travels With the Aunts"
published in the New York Times Magazine - November 21, 2004
(includes a sidebar by 15-year-old Nathan Gartrell, "A Nephew's Tale")Read article [on NYTimes.com]Read sidebar by Nathan Gartrell [on NYTimes.com]